Chapter 2

"She died about three years ago. We haven't identified her yet. We're running a DNA comparison.

"She suffered blunt force trauma to the head and severe blood loss. Combined with hypothermia, those injuries caused multiple organ failure."

Under the harsh white lights, Dr. Morgan examined my body.

I looked at the gaping wound in the back of my skull, and it was as if I could feel that searing pain all over again, then the cold creeping in as the warmth drained out of me.

"We found this diamond ring on her. Someone's tracing it now."

The ring was custom-made and expensive. The police followed the lead and soon found Calvin.

The ring was brought to him sealed in an evidence bag. Dried blood still clung to the edge of the diamond.

I watched Calvin take the ring. His fingertips twitched, so faintly it was almost impossible to see.

His gaze caught on the letters engraved inside the band: his name.

Recognition flickered across his face, followed by something harder to read. I'd engraved those letters myself.

Back then, I'd leaned against his shoulder, held up my hand to admire the ring, and grinned.

"Now you'll be by my side forever!"

Those beautiful memories had become a cruel joke, reminding him again and again how foolish he'd been.

He'd actually believed we'd spend the rest of our lives together...

Noticing Calvin's expression, an officer asked quietly:

"Mr. Hayes, do you recognize this ring?

"We found it on the deceased. The purchase records list your name, so we need to ask you a few questions."

"The deceased?"

For some reason, Calvin's voice came out dry, and his knuckles whitened around the evidence bag.

"Yes. A woman's body was found. We believe she may be your ex-fiancée, Cecilia."

At the sound of my name, Calvin's eyes widened, and he shot to his feet.

"That's impossible!"

He fell silent for a long moment. His eyes swept the room. Then he gave a cold laugh, as though he'd figured it out. "I get it. Cecilia sent you, didn't she?

"She couldn't wait to leave back then, but now that I'm rich again, she's trying to worm her way back into my life?

"Go on. How much did Cecilia pay you to put on this little act?

"I'll give her this: she's gotten better. She's even faking her own death now."

Calvin tossed the ring down in front of the two officers as if it were trash, malice clear in his eyes.

"If she has the guts to actually die, then for old times' sake, I might buy her a nice burial plot. We did fool around for a few years.

"Go back and tell Cecilia that Meryl and I are happy. Tell her to get as far away from us as she can and stop bothering us.

"Or next time, it won't just be a warning!"

I stood right in front of Calvin, listening to him deny everything we'd ever had.

My heart twisted with a sharp, wrenching pain, as if it were being torn apart.

I bent over, dazed. So even the dead can feel heartbreak.

The officer frowned, clearly put off by what Calvin had said, and held up his badge. "Mr. Hayes, we're police officers, not actors or con artists.

"We stand behind everything we say, and we'd appreciate some respect. That's all for today. We'll let you know when we have the results."

After the officers left, Meryl went to a corner and made a call.

"What the hell! How did anyone find Cecilia's body? Didn't you say you'd taken care of everything?!

"You took my money, and this is how you handle things?

"The police have already been here. You'd better hope you covered your tracks. If they find any evidence, we're both finished!"

After she hung up, Meryl kicked the flower arrangement beside her, her face twisted with rage.

"Cecilia! You just can't stand to see me happy, can you? You've been dead for years, and you're still making trouble for me!"

Watching her, I almost laughed. It was all so absurd.

When I was six, my parents died in a car accident, and I was sent to a children's home.

Everyone there picked on me because I was little. Meryl was the only one who stood up for me.

I thought she was my one true friend and gave her my whole heart. All I got in return was betrayal and a carefully planned murder.

Meryl glanced at her wedding photo with Calvin, and her face softened.

She took a breath, then quietly opened the door and went inside.

In the lounge, Calvin sat exactly where she'd left him, motionless.

The sunlight fell across his face, and it reminded me of the first time I saw him...

Back then, I'd fainted by the roadside from years of poor nutrition, and Calvin happened to find me.

He helped me into the shade of a tree and bought me a pile of food from a convenience store.

The sun was so bright that day that he seemed to glow.

Later, we ended up in the same class. He knew how hard things were for me, so he always looked out for me.

We were young. A glance here, an accidental touch there, and our feelings began to change.

After we graduated from high school, Calvin told me he loved me. His ears turned red as he promised to take care of me for the rest of my life.

Whenever my past came up, he was the one who teared up first.

In college, Calvin took care of every little thing for me. He practically spoiled me rotten.

He was always trying to make up for how unfair life had been to me.

After we graduated from college, Calvin proposed.

Not long after, disaster struck his family, and they went bankrupt.

His father couldn't bear it and jumped to his death. His mother, Margaret, was hospitalized and bedridden.

Those were hard days.

Overnight, Calvin went from a pampered rich kid to a low-paid worker juggling four jobs.

I watched him grow more exhausted every day and hated that I couldn't do more to help.

My parents had left me a house when they died.

It was the only thing I had left of them, and it held precious memories of the three of us.

But I had no other choice.

Meryl was working as a real estate agent then. I trusted her, so I let her handle the sale.

Meanwhile, I went back and forth between work and the hospital every day, caring for Margaret and working myself to the bone to ease Calvin's burden.

That year, as we sat curled up together in our rented apartment, we heard on the news that a once-in-a-century meteor shower was coming.

Calvin put his arm around me and said that when it came, we'd have our wedding with a sky full of shooting stars as our witness.

But when that day finally came, I still didn't get to marry him...

By then, Margaret was getting better, and some of the pressure had eased. Calvin kept his promise and planned a wedding for just the two of us on a snowy mountain.

I set off excited, imagining what I'd say when I saw Calvin. Would he be as thrilled as I was?

But all my dreams shattered the moment someone dragged me into that cave!

I can still remember it. The man wore a mask. He ignored my pleas, raised a pickax, and brought it down hard on the back of my head!

Once.

Then again!

I fell to the ground. Warm blood poured from the wound, and I grew colder and stiffer.

I don't know how much time passed. Then the meteor shower filled the sky, just as promised.

Not far away, Calvin was still waiting for a wedding that would never happen.

I struggled to lift my hand, trying to grab hold of something, but it fell back to the ground.

As the last of my warmth slipped away, I died inches from happiness...